The Tale of the Office, the Couch and the Afhgan
by Rae Tamwood
Summary: He might be scared, but he wasn’t a coward." Booth and Brennan have an awkward conversation. Hurt/Comfort, Humor, Friendship and hints of BB romance, all rolled up into a oneshot. R&R, please.


_AN: This was written months ago, for a prompt. It's completely silly and fluffy, and even OOC...but there's a rightful justification for that. -g-_

_Disclaimer: -checks in with family lawyer- Hmmm...nope, those documents that will prove that I own Bones still haven't arrived. Until then, it all belongs to Hart, Barry, Kathy and FOX._

Booth was afraid. He, one of the toughest men he knew (even though he was probably biased), was literally ready to soil his pants. Why? Because his (now very scary) partner had just run out to her office, after a big fight. With whom, you ask. With himself, the man that was now walking as slowly as he could to said office, to apologize and confront his fate. He might be scared, but he wasn't a coward.

As he paused with his hand ready to turn the doorknob of her office, the agent couldn't help but wonder what had made her react so badly. Of course, they both had said mean things, but that was a normal part of their day. Five minutes later, they were usually back at light banter, flirting and smiles. But today, she had simply run away from him and he didn't like that. At all.

'_Might as well try politeness first.'_ He knocked softly on the glass door. No response. He tried peeking through the blinds, but to no avail.

He knocked again, a little harder and got a weak "Go away" as response. He frowned. _'Weak? Weak is weird…mad is normal, but weak?'_ Deciding that this was an _emergency_ situation, he used the _emergency_ key she had given him.

He wasn't prepared for what he found. On the small couch, was his partner, hidden under an afghan, curled up in a way that he couldn't see her face, or any other part of her body, for that matter. _'What the…'_

"Bones?" Getting no response besides a sniff that scared him _('I made her cry? What have I said that was so bad? I'm such an idiot!'_), he approached the couch slowly, kneeling in front of it, knowing that he was in risk of being attacked very soon. "Come on, Temperance, what's wrong? I'm sorry!"

"Go away, Booth. It's better if you're not around me right now."

"Nonsense, Bones. I'm not leaving 'til you tell me what's wrong. I'm sorry if I said something that hurt you, you know I didn't mean it." He reached for the edge of the afghan where the sound was coming and lifted it slowly, sticking his own head under the warm wrap. After his eyes adjusted to darkness, he noticed that Brennan was looking at him with a mix of surprise and curiosity. "Hey."

She bit her lip to prevent herself from smile. "Hey."

"So…wanna tell me what's wrong?"

"I…"

"Was it something I said?"

"Not really. Well, it was the trigger, but not the cause." He breathed a sigh in relief. _'At least I'm not THAT big of a jerk that I didn't know what I did!'_

"Okay. Then tell me what's wrong. Please?" Even in the darkness, Brennan could feel the huge smile he was sending her way and sighed in despair. _'He'll be the death of me.'_

"It's very embarrassing. I'm not sure I feel comfortable telling you, Booth." She felt herself blush.

"Hmm_…" 'Being a tough cookie today, uh? Guess I'll have to use the cuteness maximum-level.'_ Reaching forward a bit, he nudged her nose with his own and heard her suck in her breath. He had to resist just reaching a bit forward and pressing his lips to hers. _'Not the right time. Not the right time. Not the right time.' _"Come ooon, Bones, tell me! You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I know, Booth, and it's not that I don't trust you or something, it's just that…" Booth pressed his cheek to her own and breathed in her hear: "Now, now, Temperance, I know you want to tell me. Why fight it?"

The woman in question suppressed a groan. _'See? Death!'_

"Fine." She then managed to mumble something incoherent, with her face buried in her hands.

"Sorry, Bones, I can't understand you when you're talking to your hands."

She raised her face and looked him shyly in the eyes, even through the darkness.

"My hormones are driving me crazy."

"Oh." She had to smile at the "dear caught in the headlights" look on his face. Even if she could only see it slightly in the darkness. Suddenly his eyes widened even more. "Bones. Are you pregnant?"

"What?" She was looking at him (or what she could make out of him) like if he was crazy. "Why would you assume that immediately?"

"Well, you're not supposed to have your period until a week from now…"

'_Oh God, what is this? Let's-have-private-talks-about-yourself-with-your-partner-while-he's-close-enough-so-that-you-can't-think-clearly-enough-to-stop-the-entire-conversation day?' _

"How do you even know that?"

"You're kidding me, right Bones? I've known you and worked closely with you for God knows how long, do you really expect _me_ not to notice that kind of err…stuff?"

She closed her eyes. "Oh."

"So…"

Her eyes snapped open. "So what?"

"If you aren't pregnant, what is your problem?" _'Of course he wouldn't let go, Tempe, it was foolish of you to think he would. Stupid, ridiculously adorable and annoying man.'_ She fought the urge to groan again.

"I'm…well…this is embarrassing…I'm going off the pill. No need for me to stuff myself with synthetic hormones when I don't really need them these days, right?"

'_How do you answer that?'_

"Erm…right."

She started rambling again.

"So, well, my body is needing a little time to adjust and my period came earlier and I'm feeling really bad, because I just want to cry or go home and crawl under my blanket and…" She took a deep breath that sounded suspiciously like a sniffle. "…I really need a hug right now."

Booth immediately sprung into action, rising up and sitting on the couch next to his partner, still under the covers. "Aw, Bones, I'm sorry." He pulled her into his arms and started rubbing her back soothingly. "If I knew, I wouldn't have picked a fight with you today."

"Don't be silly, Booth, there's no way you could have known." He chuckled at her muffled response (for now she had her face buried in his neck_) 'That's my girl…always the logical one.'_

"Listen, Bones, if you need anything, you can talk to me, okay?" She looked up, looking extremely like "Rudolf the Reindeer".

"I could really use some chocolate…"

_AN: It'd be nice if you reviewed...-smile-  
(the prompt was "hormones")_


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